20th Century Fox to get new name

The studio finally comes into the 21st Century. Really. After 76 years – and 12 years after entering a new century, the studio known as 20th Century Fox is embarking on a new name: 21st Century Fox. The name change comes as parent company News Corp. is separating its publishing assets from its entertainment division, announced last June. Rupert Murdoch […]

The Grab Bag: “Extra” renewed through ’17

But several others get the ax, including “America’s Most Wanted” and “Scooby Doo, Mystery Incorporated” – Warner Bros. has renewed syndicated entertainment news magazine Extra through 2017, covering 85 percent of the country, including WMAQ-Ch.5 here, who airs the series weekdays at 4 p.m. The deal includes WMAQ and seven other NBC-owned stations, in addition to outlets in the CBS, […]

Fox threatens to move its programming to cable

Is this legitimate? Or nothing more than an empty threat? Who’d thought something as small as a dime-sized antenna would cause this much trouble? The industry was a buzz about on Monday at the annual National Association of Broadcasters gathering in Las Vegas after comments made by News Corp. president and COO Chase Carey in the opening session, threatening to remove Fox […]

Fallon to succeed Leno as host of “The Tonight Show”

Here we go again. After weeks of speculation, NBC made it official last week: it was handing the hosting duties of The Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon, replacing Jay Leno in the role. In addition, NBC is moving production of The Tonight Show to New York City, returning to the Big Apple for the first time in 42 years. Excluding […]

Nils Larsen out at Tribune

There’s a lesson to be learned – The Chicago Way usually doesn’t work outside of City Hall. As first reported by Chicagoland Radio and Media on April 2, Tribune fired Nils Larsen as president and CEO of Tribune Broadcasting. Larsen  joined Tribune in December 2008 during the Randy Michaels-Sam Zell era. Typical to how things work in Chicago politics, Larsen […]

CBS Television Distribution cancels “Judge Joe Brown”

After fifteen seasons, court is adjourned for Judge Joe Brown. CBS Television Distribution announced the cancellation of the long-running courtroom strip Tuesday afternoon. It was reported last month that salary negotiations between CTD and Brown were ongoing as the syndicator wanted him to take a salary cut to return this fall, but reportedly rejected the offer. A statement released by […]

When analysts attack

Kendall Gill suspended indefinitely from CSN analyst role It’s never a dull day in Chicago media. The latest Barrel O’ Fun moment came last week in a rather bizarre incident between Comcast SportsNet Chicago Bulls analyst Kendall Gill and Big Ten Network’s Tim Doyle at CSN Chicago’s River North headquarters. According to Crain’s Chicago Business sports blogger Danny Ecker – […]

T Dog’s Think Tank: Won’t someone please think of the children?

A major blunder took place Saturday involving a local TV station – and for once it wasn’t in Chicago. And it wasn’t even a network-owned one. Nope, it took place at San Diego’s CBS affiliate, KFMB. The Midwest Television-owned station decided to pre-empt an hour of the third-round NCAA Tournament game between Michigan and Virginia Commonwealth (VCU) at 9 a.m. […]

NBC, Tribune appoint new executives

Also: Colin Cowherd comes to Chicago A pair of exec hires were announced on Tuesday: – David Doebler was named president and general manager of WMAQ-TV here, replacing Larry Wert, who is now head of Tribune’s station group. Doebler comes over from sister NBC-owned station WVIT in Hartford-New Haven Conn. During his eight-year tenure, WVIT (on Channel 30) was competitive […]

Lucasfilm to end production on “Clone Wars”

In a rather confusing press release, Lucasfilm announced on Monday it was halting production of animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars after five seasons as the company is pursuing a “new direction” for its Star Wars television animated projects. But the company also announced it was working on some “additional story arcs” for the series as “bonus content”. Lucasfilm […]

Stacking up the singing competition shows

How do American Idol, X Factor, and Voice compare to one another? When American Idol debuted on Fox in the summer of 2002, no one knew what a phenomenon the series would turn out to be. Along the way, it spawned successes (X Factor, created by former Idol judge Simon Cowell and NBC’s The Voice) and some flops (The One.) […]

Chicago radio sinks to a new low – again – WIND to hire Walsh

I guess in Chicago media, you don’t need a degree to get a job. Just look pretty. Or be dumb. Or be an unfunny, talentless hack. Or just yell a lot. Welcome to the Chicago media freak show, former Representative Joe Walsh. In a town whose media outlets hired embarrassments such as Randy Michaels, Jim Laski, Jenny McCarthy, Jim Belushi, […]

Fox Sports to launch new national cable network

Move over ESPN, you’ve got some competition. Fox Sports announced Tuesday at a upfront presentation the launch of a brand-new national all-sports network known as Fox Sports 1. The “worst kept secret” was unveiled at an upfront presentation to the media and advertisers in New York City. The net plans to debut in 90 million homes on August 17, replacing […]

T Dog’s Grab Bag: Harry Teinowitz out at ESPN 1000

– I guess he ain’t “winning” anymore: Harry Teinowitz is out as afternoon co-host at ESPN 1000 (WMVP). Teinowitz, who was paired up with John “Jurko” Jurkovic and Carmen DeFalco for the 2-6 afternoon shift, was given his walking papers Thursday after twelve years at the ESPN-owned radio station. Jurko and Carmen will continue with the show for the time […]

Analysis: ABC 7 dominates February sweeps… well, almost

Say with me everybody… ABC-owned WLS-TV (ABC 7) dominated the local news competition during the sweeps – this time is the February “book”, as it has done since 1987 (excluding Olympic years.) According to information obtained by Chicagoland Radio and Media, WLS won almost all local news time slots in households and the key adult 25-54 demo, with one major […]